Another scandal? The NFL's got this

Some of you, I've heard, are considering boycotting next Sunday's Super Bowl. NBC is concerned that not many more than 113 million of you will watch. If so, advertisers are likely to seek rebates, demanding a return to the mere $4 million they paid in 2014 for 30-second spots instead of this year's record $4.5 million.

I urge everyone to calm down.

Don't overreact to Deflategate.

Remember the true meaning of the Super Bowl. It's families and friends, some of whom don't know who's playing in the game, coming together to sit in front of the television, break whatever New Year's resolutions regarding weight loss have not yet been broken, fill in betting squares that one of those who doesn't know who's playing will win and critique the commercials.

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Feeling deflated

Three of the lowest moments for the NFL in the past year:

Sept. 8, 2014: Ravens release running back Ray Rice - who was serving a two-game suspension - after video surfaces of him punching his then-fiancée in February.

Sept. 12, 2014: Vikings deactivate star running back Adrian Peterson after he is indicted on a charge of reckless or negligent injury to a child in Montgomery County.

Jan. 18, 2015: Patriots are found to not have properly inflated 11 of 12 footballs used in AFC title game.

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Don't deprive yourself of seeing what color Katy Perry's hair will be during the halftime show.

Ignore the noise from Troy Aikman, who said this gate is more scandalous than Bountygate. That resulted in a season's suspension for New Orleans coach Sean Payton.

"To me, the punishment for the Patriots and/or Bill Belichick has to be more severe than what the punishment was for the New Orleans Saints," Aikman said.

Ignore the silence of NFL owners and executives, with the exception of Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II.

"I wouldn't put it on the scale of a serious violation," Rooney said. "But if it's in fact true, it's a violation of league rules, then I'm sure the league office will deal with it in an appropriate way."

The league has got this.

You believe Roger Goodell when he said he's going to get better at investigating, don't you? He hasn't always been good at it.

The commissioner brought in his predecessor, Paul Tagliabue, to hear appeals after the Bountygate suspensions of Saints coaches, officials and players. Tagliabue overturned the suspensions of players, suggesting Goodell lacked common sense.

For an appraisal of his handling of the Ray Rice investigation, the commissioner recruited former FBI director Robert Mueller III. Mueller concluded Goodell should have conducted a "more substantial investigation" before suspending Rice for a mere two games.

In a letter to owners after the severity of Rice's assault against his then-fiancée was exposed, Goodell said, "Simply put, we have to do better. And we will."

Doing better?

Four days after it was revealed the Patriots' footballs were under-inflated in the first half of their AFC Championship Game victory over Indianapolis last Sunday, quarterback Tom Brady said the league hadn't interviewed him.

Even after Bill Belichick's news conference Saturday, we still don't know whether the person who would have most benefited from deflation, the quarterback, was interviewed. But the league assured everyone last week it is thoroughly investigating, having spoken with 40 people. There will be no room for ambiguity. If there's a smoking air pump, the league's Sherlocks will find it.

So what if they do?

As Matt Leinart said, "Every team tampers with footballs. Ask any quarterback in the league; this is ridiculous."

All you need to do to know how much the tampering helps is look up Leinart's NFL statistics.

Leinart later amended his statement to say Kurt Warner didn't tamper with footballs.

If you believe Belichick - and why wouldn't you? - Brady doesn't tamper with them, either. He might manipulate the surface to make sure the balls have the texture he prefers but doesn't inflate or deflate them.

He said Saturday the Patriots "followed every rule" in preparation of their footballs.

He sounded like a science teacher in theorizing how it was possible from a physics perspective for there to be less air in the balls at halftime than before the game. But he didn't seem comfortable with the subject, acknowledging he is not the Mona Lisa Vito of air pressure.

In case the reference escapes you, she was the expert witness on automobile mechanics whose testimony got Billy Gambini off the hook in the movie "My Cousin Vinny." Marisa Tomei won an Academy Award for the role.

If Belichick was lying Saturday, he deserves an Oscar.

Doing better?

No matter, none of this is your concern.

Michael Josephson, founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Los Angeles and the "Character Counts!" youth initiative, said it's the responsibility of those who supervise sports - from Little League coaches to the NFL commissioner - to create a culture in which cheating isn't tolerated.

"Because of the attention they get, sports have great influence on our values," he said. "Their leaders have to set the right tone."

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